Did you know that GitHub has a Student Developer Pack that’s chock-full of great deals? Well, they do. All you have to do is prove you’re a student and there are several hundred dollars worth of discounts waiting for you to cash in on. Here’s what you need to know.
GitHub Gives You a Crazy Amount of Stuff if You’re a Student
GitHub’s Student Developer Packhas a bunch of discounts for students. They aren’t limited to just GitHub services, either.
GitHub has partnered with dozens of companies to provide real-world tools to students at little to no cost. Presumably, the team at GitHub recognizes that sometimes students need hands-on experience with software that’s simply too expensive to buy while in school.
While there are numerous services and programs included with GitHub’s Student Developer Pack, I’ll highlight a few of my favorites here. Also, many of these discounts are available directly from each respective company, so if you only need one program (1Password, for instance), then you can just go to 1Password as a student and get their software.
However, sometimes the discount that GitHub secures is better than what the company offers directly, so it’s worth checking both sources to make sure you get the best deal possible.
Notion, DigitalOcean, and NameCheap, Oh My!
These days,Notionis a crucial part of my daily workflow. While it wasn’t around when I was in college, I sure wish it was. I would have been able to be much more organized with my daily tasks had I been able to use Notion.
GitHub takes the already-greatNotion Education plan(which gives you a free Plus Plan for one year) and adds to that additional AI responses.Notion’s Plus Plangives you unlimited file uploads, unlimited charts, custom forms, custom sites, and more.
WithNotion’s custom sites, you could build out websites for various clubs and activities that you’re involved with around school, all without paying a dime.
DigitalOceanalso teamed up with GitHub to give students a solid discount on its virtual private server services. Through GitHub, you’ll be able toget $200 in platform creditsthat’ll last a full year.
Depending on what you need access to, that $200 will go alongway at DigitalOcean. Normal droplets start at $4 per month, meaning you could have four droplets deployed and not run out of the credit by the end of the year.
DigitalOcean also offers Kubernetes, Gradient Platform and Gradient GPU Droplets, databases, load balancers, and much more. Your $200 in credit works on all of the services that DigitalOcean offers, so you’re not limited to just standard droplets.
NameCheapalso didn’t want to miss out on the fun. Notion gives you the project management you need to succeed in school, DigitalOcean helps you with your VPS needs, and NameCheapgives you a free .me domainand a free SSL certificate for a year.
I would have loved to get a free domain when I was in school. I was using all the “free” domains out there to host my websites, likeco.cc(before it went under) and several others I can’t remember at this point. But, having a free domain would have been awesome.
The free domain from NameCheap does only last a year, however, so you’ll be on the hook to renew it after 12 months yourself. NameCheap only charges around $10 per year for .me domains though, so you won’t be out too much to renew it after that first year.
1Password or DashLane—You Choose
I thinkeveryone should be using a password manager, but they can get pricey if you don’thost one yourself. While there arefree password managersout there, sometimes it’s worth it to use a premium service—especially when your security is at stake.
1Password ismy password manager of choice. It also costs money to use—unless you’re a student. As part ofa partnership with GitHub, you may get access to 1Password’s premium service for free for a full year.
With 1Password, you’ll have the ability to generate and save credentials, store credit card information, and even manage your SSH keys or database information. I have been a 1Password member for a decade at this point and use it for all of the above and more.
However, if you’re not a 1Password fan, thenDashLanealso partnered with GitHub to give you six months of its premium service for free. Offering a similar service to 1Password, DashLane will keep your digital life organized, secure, and easy-to-access.
Just remember that when your free student trial is up, you’ll be on the hook for the monthly cost of either service, should you continue to use them.
Free GitHub Pro, Copilot Pro, and More for the Entire Time That You’re a Student
Now, GitHub’s Student Developer Pack wouldn’t be complete without some GitHub deals, right? Well, you’ll get free GitHub Pro, Copilot Pro, and more for the entire time that you’re a student.
So far, all the deals I’ve talked about have expiration dates that will likely come far before your studentship ends. Since GitHub controls its own services, they’re able to extend the deal that you get until you graduate.
With GitHub Pro, you’ll get 3,000 GitHub Actions per month, 2GB of GitHub Packages storage, wikis for your GitHub repos, and much more.
In addition to GitHub Pro, you’ll also get GitHub Copilot Pro for free. This gives you 300 premium requests per month, access to the o4-mini, Claude Sonnet 3.7, Claude Sonnet 3.7 Thinking, Claude Sonnet 4, and Gemini 2.5 Pro models, real-time code completion suggestions, and so much more.
All You Have to Do Is Prove You’re a Student
If all this sounds like something that you’d be interested in getting, all you have to do is prove you’re a student aged 13 or older and “enrolled in a degree or diploma-granting course of study.” GitHub has various ways for you to prove your eligibility. The best method to get approved is by uploading a picture of your dated school ID.
Though, if you don’t have that, GitHub does offer other ways to verify, like uploading transcripts, your enrollment letter, a syllabus from one of your classes, or even a screenshot of the school portal. Each method has varying degrees of success, GitHub says. This is likely due to the ease of faking some paperwork, and the difficulty in faking others.
Either way, just visitGitHub’s Student Developer Pack website, click the sign-up button, and start your enrollment today!
